New Delhi, May 13: A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to a Congress member arrested in connection with a fake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech, noting that he has cooperated in the probe and his further custodial interrogation is not required.
Arun Reddy, who was arrested on May 3, handles the ‘Spirit of Congress’ account on ‘X’, according to officials.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Nabeela Wali noted that the prime allegation against the accused on the basis of which he was arrested was being the ‘Admin’ of the WhatsApp group on which the alleged fake video was first posted for circulation.
However, there are no allegations of the accused having posted/ circulated the said video on any forum, the judge noted.
He noted that the accused was in custody since May 3 and the investigating agency had already taken his police remand.
“Further, the applicant/ accused, as per reply of the investigating officer (IO) has co-operated with the investigating agency and has disclosed the name of his associates/ other investigation. Also, it is an admitted position that no further police custody is required,” the judge said.
The court said that the other suspects in the present case have been granted protection from coercive action by the High Court of Telangana.
“In the opinion of this court, further custodial interrogation of the accused is not required.
“Moreover, it is not the case of the investigating agency that the whereabouts/ details of the other suspects are not known to them.
“It is also submitted that no further recovery is to be effected from the accused and mobile phone of the accused has already been seized and the accused has clean antecedents. Accordingly, the accused Arun Kumar Bereddy is granted bail,” the judge said.
The judge directed the accused to join the investigation as and when required by the IO (investigating officer) and to furnish his mobile phone number to the IO which shall be kept operational at all times so that he can be reached out.
“That accused shall not leave the country without the permission from the Court. The accused shall attend the proceedings either before the I0 or before the court,” the judge said.
